Chapter 1: I Transmigrated
“I say, Gu Yunsheng, you’re a veterinarian. Why are you studying my novel every day? What, are you planning to neuter a merman?”
On the other side of the screen, the man’s shoulders shook with laughter, his tone teasing.
Gu Yunsheng rolled his eyes and retorted grumpily, “Get lost. If you were capable enough to write a pet-raising guide, I promise I wouldn’t read it!”
Despite his disdainful words, his eyes were glued to the novel titled The Fallen Merman on his screen. It was his current obsession.
“Seriously though, when are you starting the new book? You have no idea—I actually paid for a membership on that other site just to read something while waiting for you! But their plot is like constipation; it’s suffocating me!” While complaining, Gu Yunsheng skillfully operated his mouse and sent a large red packet monetary gift to the author.
The man’s name was Lu Jinghuan, a web novelist specializing in fantasy. He was particularly good at writing about mermen, claiming to be inspired by Desharow Merman. He had written a hit novel, Forbidden Zone of the Merman, which attracted a horde of fanatical fans online, Gu Yunsheng being one of them.
“Alright, alright, stop rushing me. The first five chapters are already written. I was just waiting for a ‘big investor’ like you to give me some inspiration.” Lu Jinghuan joked, then his tone turned mysterious. “Speaking of which, you won’t believe it, but I actually found some real inspiration recently…”
As he spoke, he picked up a conch shell from his desk and shook it at the camera. “See this? A treasure I brought back from the Antarctic! How about it? Isn’t it beautiful?”
Gu Yunsheng stared at the conch emitting a faint blue glow on the screen, and his heart inexplicably skipped a beat. For some reason, the shell looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Lu Jinghuan didn’t notice his strange reaction and continued enthusiastically, “I found this when I went to see the aurora in the Antarctic. It was the only one there; there wasn’t even a starfish nearby! Isn’t that magical?”
Gu Yunsheng nodded perfunctorily, but a vivid image suddenly flashed through his mind: the deep ocean floor, a massive conch lying quietly on a coral reef, emitting a faint blue light, with strange fish swimming all around it…
He shook his head violently, dismissing it as a hallucination caused by reading too many novels lately.
“By the way, didn’t you say you were going on a business trip to S City? When do you leave?” Lu Jinghuan’s voice pulled him back to reality.
“The day after tomorrow,” Gu Yunsheng answered casually, his mind still lingering on that strange shell.
“What a coincidence, I’m going to S City the day after tomorrow too!” Lu Jinghuan sounded excited. “My new book needs some material. Come with me to the aquarium? Consider it providing me with inspiration!”
Gu Yunsheng intended to refuse, but the words changed on the tip of his tongue, and he agreed as if possessed. “Fine, since you’re the boss.”
After hanging up the video call, Gu Yunsheng stared blankly at the screen. He felt an inexplicable unease, though he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. He decided to turn off the computer and go to bed, but just as he lay down, his phone rang.
It was a message from Lu Jinghuan:
“By the way, I almost forgot. This conch is for you. Consider it a thank-you gift!”
The image attached was of that familiar-looking conch shell.
Gu Yunsheng stared at the phone screen. The conch seemed to transform into a bottomless vortex, threatening to suck him in.
Subconsciously, he wanted to throw the phone away, but his fingers felt as if they were glued to it; he couldn’t move them at all.
“Damn it, what the hell is this!” Gu Yunsheng cursed under his breath, his heart pounding wildly.
The next second, the phone screen exploded with light. Blue radiance instantly drowned his vision. He felt the world spin, as if reality itself was collapsing…
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a reef. Surrounded by a turbulent sea, the salty, fishy sea breeze hit his face, causing him to cough violently.
“Cough, cough… What’s the situation?” Gu Yunsheng struggled to sit up and looked around. He was in an unfamiliar sea region. Not far away, a huge island was shrouded in thick fog, its true appearance obscured.
“Did I… transmigrate?” Gu Yunsheng muttered in disbelief, the image of the conch Lu Jinghuan sent floating in his mind. Could that shell have brought him here?
“Shit, Lu Jinghuan and his crow’s beak. Talking about inspiration material—he actually played me right into it!” Gu Yunsheng couldn’t help but swear. He was just a vet; why would he end up in a hellhole like this?
Even worse, he realized he was wearing a strange outfit. It looked like a diving suit, but the material was exceptionally thin and light. Embedded in the chest was a blue gem emitting a faint shimmer.
“What is this thing?” Gu Yunsheng reached out to touch the gem. The moment his fingertips made contact, a cold mechanical voice rang in his mind:
“Host binding successful. Welcome to the ABO World.”
“ABO World? A world actually full of pheromones?” Gu Yunsheng cursed again. He instinctively tried to rip the gem off his chest, but it felt as if it had grown into his flesh, immovable.
“Host need not worry. This System exists to help the Host better integrate into this world,” the cold mechanical voice sounded again, as if responding to his question.
“Integrate into this world? Integrate my ass!” Gu Yunsheng roared internally. “I’m a respectable veterinarian! I don’t want to play this boring game!”
“Detected significant emotional fluctuation in Host. It is suggested that the Host familiarize himself with the current environment and accept the Novice Mission.” The System’s voice remained flat, completely ignoring Gu Yunsheng’s meltdown.
“Novice Mission? What is that?” Gu Yunsheng asked irritably. He realized this broken System had no intention of negotiating; it had the overbearing attitude of a CEO saying, “Do it or don’t, I don’t care.”
“Novice Mission: Capture a Merman.” The System’s voice remained cold, but the words exploded in Gu Yunsheng’s mind like thunder.
“C-Capture a merman??” Gu Yunsheng’s voice began to tremble. He suddenly remembered the novel The Fallen Merman that he had stayed up all night reading. Could it be…
He looked down at his diving suit, then at the turbulent sea around him. A ridiculous thought surged in his mind.
No way? Did I actually transmigrate into ‘The Fallen Merman’?
His mind scrambled to recall the plot—scenes of him, Bai Chunian, and Rimbaud together.
Wait!
Gu Yunsheng suddenly realized something was wrong. The surrounding waters, this oppressive and suffocating atmosphere… this wasn’t described in The Fallen Merman at all!
Before he could think further, an intense pressure swept up from the deep sea. Gu Yunsheng could feel his heart being squeezed by this pressure, as if it would burst at any second.
Splash—!
With a loud noise and a spray of water filling the sky, a colossal figure broke through the surface and hovered in mid-air.
By the moonlight, Gu Yunsheng saw “its” true face.
No, accurately speaking, “it” shouldn’t be used.
It was a man—a man with a near-perfect upper body, cold white skin, fluid muscle lines, and a pair of blue eyes that were cold, cruel, yet held a wild allure.
But his lower body was an ink-black fish tail, three meters long. Massive, powerful, and covered in scales that radiated strength, gleaming coldly under the moon.
Gu Yunsheng swallowed hard. He swore he had never seen such a big fish in his life—oh no, a merman!
He could almost feel the sharp wind whipped up by the swing of that massive black tail, scraping across his cheek like a knife.
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